


my brother's keeper

by RaineyDay



Series: Febuwhump 2021 [7]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Mentioned Sazed (The Adventure Zone), Panic Attacks, Post-Glamour Springs (The Adventure Zone), Post-The Eleventh Hour, Protective Lup (The Adventure Zone), Protective The Director | Lucretia, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:00:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29302320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaineyDay/pseuds/RaineyDay
Summary: Day 7 of Febuwhump: poisoning"Eventually he went to a kitchen, and Lup perked up in excitement for a moment, before it occurred to her to wonder why he came out here in the middle of the night to cook when there was a perfectly good- actually, honestly, a perfect- kitchen in his suite. Lucretia knew what her family liked, and she'd made that kitchen perfect for Taako, so Lup was baffled by his decision to cook elsewhere.But she pushed past that, eager to cook with her brother again. She hadn't seen Taako cooking since he'd found her, and it kind of bummed her out. Still, with how infrequently she was aware of herself that much, she supposed it wasn't that much of a surprise that she was missing a lot."
Relationships: Angus McDonald & Taako, Lup & Taako (The Adventure Zone), The Director | Lucretia & Taako
Series: Febuwhump 2021 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138502
Comments: 3
Kudos: 41
Collections: febuwhump 2021





	my brother's keeper

**Author's Note:**

> despite knowing that I had to do this prompt, I had a hard time figuring out how I was going to do it. but here! have a Lup being protective of her brother because of what Sazed did, because I can never get enough of that.

Lup wasn't very aware of much that went on outside of her Staff that she'd gotten herself stuck in. Since Taako had found her, she'd had more and more moments approaching true lucidity, but for the most part, her awareness just drifted, less solid than a dream.

In the moments she was more lucid, she was kind of grateful for that. This already sucked a lot, and she could only imagine how much worse it would be if she was constantly conscious through it.

She tended to be more prone to lucidity when Taako was feeling stronger emotions. Which was both a blessing and a curse. It was really nice when he was happy and enjoying himself- spending time with Magnus and Merle, teasing and teaching that kid Lup hadn't quite learned the name of- but it also meant being present in moments when Taako was hurting, and she couldn't do much of anything to help. And he wasn't letting anyone else help either.

Still, she'd rather this than random moments of lucidity. How much would it suck for her to become conscious in like, the middle of the night or something? Boooring.

Well, actually, technically, it was the middle of the night _now_ but Taako wasn't sleeping, so it wasn't so boring.

Lup wasn't sure what Taako was doing exactly, but when he'd left his room, he'd hesitated over bringing her along. Which was kind of weird, honestly.

Even though, to him, she was just an umbrella at the moment, Taako didn't tend to go anywhere without her. She liked to think that he was aware of the significance of the Umbra Staff at least, on some level, but it was equally likely that he just wanted a spell focus with him.

Their whole lives, ever since they'd learned enough magic to use it reliably, Taako had felt uneasy going anywhere without access to a spell focus. Lup had always been the same, except during the cycles when she died and liched it out for the rest of the year.

Still, you gotta have hope, don't you? Especially when you don't have hands or a body or anything you can use to actually influence anything outside of the little prison you'd trapped yourself in when you didn't consider the consequences of making a device that can swallow magic when you are, intermittently, just made of magic-

She was getting off topic.

Taako left the suite he shared with Magnus and Merle, and Lup grew even more curious about what he planned to do in the middle of the night.

Eventually he went to a kitchen, and Lup perked up in excitement for a moment, before it occurred to her to wonder why he came out here in the middle of the night to cook when there was a perfectly good- actually, honestly, a _perfect-_ kitchen in his suite. Lucretia knew what her family liked, and she'd made that kitchen perfect for Taako, so Lup was baffled by his decision to cook elsewhere.

But she pushed past that, eager to cook with her brother again. She hadn't seen Taako cooking since he'd found her, and it kind of bummed her out. Still, with how infrequently she was aware of herself that much, she supposed it wasn't that much of a surprise that she was missing a lot.

Even if it wasn't going to be the same as cooking with him when they both had a body- or at least, a person shaped form, since they'd managed to do some bomb ass stuff even when she was a lich- she was still excited about the whole thing. Honestly, the idea of being the spell focus for Taako's transmutation was kind of cool, in a way. It was a role she'd never played in cooking with her brother. She was a scientist, she loved exploring new things, so this could be really interesting.

Except- then Taako was hanging her by the handle on a hook by the door, holding his hands out toward her like he was trying to warn an excitable puppy to 'stay.'

And he left her there while he washed his hands, pulled out ingredients, washed his hands again, pulled out cookware, washed his hands _again_ , and then stood over everything he'd gathered, not doing anything with it, just breathing heavily like he was _afraid_ of touching any of it.

 _What the fuck_.

Lup couldn't ask it verbally, no matter how much she might want to, so instead she just stewed in frustration.

Taako's head snapped toward her, and she realized that she hadn't actually been stewing as much as she thought. She'd _moved_ unconsciously, just a tiny jump on the hook, but still movement, and for a moment, she was elated. She hadn't even been trying to do that. She was getting better and better at controlling the Umbra Staff from the inside, and that could only be a good thing.

But before she could get too happy, she realized that she'd scared Taako.

She didn't know why her movement had scared him. She'd moved of her own volition before, and he'd seemed perfectly willing to accept that his spell focus occasionally developed a mind of her own, so she had no idea what was different about this time.

But something clearly was, because her movement had startled Taako so badly that he'd slid down to the ground, inching away from the counter into the center of the room, where he was now breathing frantically while curled up in a ball and clutching his head as if trying to block out any sounds- or memories.

Fuck. _Fuck._ Her brother was hurting, partially because of something she did, and she couldn't help him. And it was the middle of the night, so no one else was likely to happen by to help at all, let alone anyone that Taako would actually be willing to accept help from.

She hung there in silence, unable to do anything helpful and unwilling to try to move again because she probably couldn't actually make it far enough to get help, and she'd scared him by moving before, feeling useless and frustrated and furious with herself for her mistakes that had led to this.

She shouldn't have gone after her relic alone. She at least should have sent a message about where she was going, once she'd gotten her plan to hide it into the final stages. After a century together, they should have all realized that they were worse off when they acted alone.

But she hadn't done either of those things, and she couldn't change that. She couldn't change anything.

Her own miserable wallowing was cut off by the sound of the door to the kitchen opening, and two familiar people walking inside.

Lup hadn't realized that Lucretia spent much time with Angus, but she didn't have time to wonder about it. She did file the mental image of Lucretia guiding the sleepy little kid as he leaned into her side away for later examination. She wasn't quite sure how much of her memory at the moment was able to hold that, since it was more of a vague awareness than anything resembling sight, but it was damn adorable, and she'd love to look back on it later, when she and her brother weren't both freaking out.

The way the kitchen was shaped, Lucretia and Angus couldn't see Taako when they first entered, but it wouldn't be difficult to notice him once they got further in.

Lucretia noticed the supplies gathered on the counter, and seemed hesitant to step further in, which made Lup want to scream. It was too late to worry about startling Taako- for whatever reason- just hurry up and help him!

She moved again, more purposeful this time, and a little less obvious because she didn't have a ton of energy to move at all, but it was enough to make a noise and get Lucretia and Angus looking in her direction, though they quickly stopped paying her any attention as their eyes also moved over Taako, curled up on the floor and scared witless for reasons Lup couldn't understand.

She hoped that they did. Knowing something like that could help them to help Taako.

Angus didn't look at all sleepy any more, bolting over to Taako and reaching out to him.

Lucretia wasn't far behind Angus, dropping to the ground beside him and Taako quickly, despite Angus' warning to be careful and the way she winced when she hit the floor.

Lucretia looked between Angus' outstretched hands and Taako, clearly thinking about how infrequently Taako liked to be touched when he was freaking out, but before she could say or do anything about it, Angus' small hands were touching Taako's arms, carefully.

Taako flinched back at first, and Lup wanted to sigh in frustration, but then he leaned forward again, into Angus' touch, and Lup relaxed and softened immediately. It was really cute how much Taako loved that kid.

Lucretia stayed nearby, but didn't touch, letting Angus handle that. She started breathing slowly, meeting Taako's eyes and instructing him to do the same.

He did, and Lup was so, so grateful to Angus and Lucretia in this moment. Even her conflicted feelings about Lucy at the moment were pushed down by her gratitude that the two of them were helping her brother when she couldn't, due to her own dumb mistakes.

As Taako's breathing slowed, but before he stopped staring into nothing, Angus wrapped his arms around Taako's torso in a hug, which Taako returned seemingly instinctively, still following Lucretia's breathing until his own breath stabilized and he buried his face in the top of Angus' hair.

Lucretia stood, giving the two of them some privacy, and walked over to the counter where Taako had put his supplies. She glanced back at Taako hesitantly, unsure about something, and Taako answered her question before she could ask it.

"Yeah, go ahead. Not gonna try to cook again tonight," Taako said, voice raspy, barely picking up his face enough to get the words out at all.

Lucretia nodded tightly, and began to put thing away, only the occasional rattle of something returned to it's place too firmly revealing the fact that she was angry.

In fact, knowing her as well as Lup did, she could tell that Lucretia was _fucking pissed._ Lup watched Lucretia for a moment, partially to gather information and partially to give her brother a private moment with his kid. She knew Lucretia, and she could pick up a lot in the movements she made, and the expression on her face, and the cut-off, whispered curses that slipped from her mouth now and again.

Ah. So it was probably a person that had done this to her brother, and they hadn't been punished yet. That was good to know, and Lup filed that information away for later as well.

Eventually, Taako stood, though he was almost leaning on Angus for support as he did so. Angus didn't seem to mind, holding Taako's hand and guiding him out the door.

Lup tried not to be hurt that Taako forgot to grab her on the way out, because he clearly wasn't in the best frame of mind at the moment.

And then she heard him shout from down the hall about forgetting her, and the hurt disappeared entirely.

"I'll get it! Don't worry yourself, Taako," Lucretia called, and reached for Lup.

Lup let herself be grabbed, because she could recognize that the circumstances weren't ideal for her favorite person to carry her back to the suite. She didn't like the thought of being used by anyone but Taako, not even the other members of her family. (She felt a brief flash of regret at how she'd hurt Merle in the cave. She hadn't wanted him to use her, but she hadn't been herself enough to think to be careful with him either.)

But Lucretia clearly wasn't planning on using her, and she was just going to bring her back to Taako's room, so it would be fine. If she didn't let Lucretia pick her up, Lup wasn't even sure if Taako would be willing to trek back to the kitchen to grab her anyway, when he didn't who she was in here, and considering that she'd already scared him earlier.

Lup took advantage of the fact that Lucretia was holding her to see if she could peek into her mind and get more information on the situation. She was able to do that with Taako sometimes, when he was holding her, and she knew Lucy almost as well.

There was a memory running through Lucretia's mind, that Lup wasn't picking up much of, but she got a vague sense of seething rage and helpless frustration- which, same- from it. Taako had- asked Lucretia if the Bureau could find somebody for him. Told her- something- the details of the situation were eluding Lup, because she wasn't really practiced with divination, and Lucy had always kept her mind locked up tight. Lup was kind of surprised she was getting anything, but figured Lucretia probably wasn't expecting anybody to try and breach her mind at oh dark thirty in these empty hallways.

Lup eventually gave up, because Lucretia and Angus had brought Taako back to his room, and Lucretia was setting her beside the end of Taako's bed, where he always put her at the end of the day. But before she did, Lup managed to get a name at least.

Whoever this Sazed asshole was, she was going to _murder_ him.

**Author's Note:**

> So, if it wasn't clear, in my mind, after The Eleventh Hour, Taako asked Lucretia if the Bureau could track someone down for him, and Lucretia gets super pissed at Sazed when she learns what he did but couldn't devote too many resources to that, since it's like,,, not what the Bureau is for, and didn't find him before the finale. But that's how she knows what's going on. Angus also knows because he's a nosy little shit and taako loves him.


End file.
